Method of and apparatus for access geographical location information service

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a solution to accessing for a geographical location information-based service in a server of a machine type communication based communication system, where firstly a server broadcasts or multicasts a content request message, the content request message comprising information on requested content and information on a target geographical location; then the server receives a response message from at least one user equipment, the response message indicating that the at least one user equipment possesses the requested content and the at least one user equipment being located within the target geographical location; and finally the server acquires the requested content from the at least one user equipment.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates to a method of and an apparatus foraccessing for machine type communication.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Machine to Machine (M2M) refers to transmission of data from oneterminal to another terminal or exchange of data between machinesthrough GSM/GPRS, UMTS/HSDPA and CDMA/EVDO or other modules. At present,M2M is generally applied in the fields of security surveillance,automatic vending machines, public traffic systems, vehicle monitoringand management, industry process automatization, motor machineries, cityinformationalization, etc.

At present a positioning function is offered in the 3GPP specificationto determine channel condition information of a user equipment, but theexisting positioning function can not be applied in a machine typecommunication based communication system because the currentimplementation of a geographical location-based service requires anadditional location server which handles the geographical locationinformation. Thus the geographical location information can not be useddirectly by a machine type communication server, and the geographicallocation information acquired by 3GPP mobility control, which isinformation at a cell level, is not accurate enough.

Among the system optimization categories defined in the 3GPPspecification, machine type communication involves heterogeneousapplications due to its extensive support of a variety of networktopology environments. Thus in a machine type communication basedcommunication system, a user equipment may he completely stationary, andadditional signaling is required to optimize the mobility management ofmachine type communication.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

For a machine to machine application, the invention defines a new systemoptimization category referred to as geographical location informationbased machine type communication identification. machine typecommunication devices often spread over wide remote geographical area,and their geographical location information is an important parameter tobe reported together with their own content, e.g., measured data, etc.,to the server. In other words, there exists a one-to-one correspondencebetween the content and the geographical location information in amachine type communication system. The identifications of the machinetype communication devices do not rely on cell level locationidentification but on geographical location information at a moreprecise level. A machine type communication device would be consideredas geographical location information-based device, if it is addressed byits geographical location information and its data transmission issolely identified by its geographical location information rather thanbeing identified by the name of the device itself.

In a technical solution to machine type communication identificationbased upon geographical location information according to the invention,a server addresses a device by its geographical location informationinstead of a device identifier. The device is addressed by itsgeographical location information, and the server defines and recognizesthe geographical location area information as a unique identificationwithin the same communication network.

According to an embodiment of the invention, there is provided a methodof accessing for a geographical location information-based service in aserver of a machine type communication based communication system. Themethod comprises the steps of: broadcasting or multicasting a contentrequest message, the content request message including information onrequested content and information on a target geographical location;receiving a response message from at least one user equipment, theresponse message indicating that the at least one user equipmentpossesses the requested content, and the at least one user equipmentbeing located within the target geographical location; and acquiring therequested content from the at least one user equipment.

In an embodiment, the server selects at least one user equipment fromthe at least one user equipment based upon a predetermined rule; andacquires the requested content from the selected at least one userequipment

In an embodiment, the server acquires the requested content byestablishing a connection with the at least one user equipment.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided amethod of accessing for a geographical location information-basedservice in a user equipment of a machine type communication basedcommunication system. The method comprises the steps of: receiving acontent request message from a server, the content request messagecomprising information on requested content and information on a targetgeographical location; determining whether the user equipment is locatedwithin the target geographical location and determining whether the userequipment possesses the requested content; and sending a responsemessage to the server, if the user equipment is located within thetarget geographical location and possesses the requested content, theresponse message including information indicating that the userequipment possesses the content requested by the server. Optionally theresponse message further comprises information indicating GPScoordinates of the geographical location where the user equipment islocated.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided afirst accessing apparatus for a geographical location information-basedservice in a server of a machine type communication based communicationsystem. The apparatus comprises: a broadcasting or multicasting device,for broadcasting or multicasting a content request message, the contentrequest message including information on requested content andinformation on a target geographical location; a first receiving device,for receiving a response message from at least one user equipment, theresponse message indicating that the at least one user equipmentpossesses the requested content, and the at least one user equipmentbeing located within the target geographical location; and an acquiringdevice, for acquiring the requested content from the at least one userequipment.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provided asecond accessing apparatus for a geographical location information-basedservice in a user equipment of a machine type communication basedcommunication system. The apparatus comprises: a second receivingdevice, for receiving a content request message from a server, thecontent request message including information on requested content andinformation on a target geographical location; a determining device, fordetermining whether the user equipment is located within the targetgeographical location and determining whether the user equipmentpossesses the requested content; and a sending device, for sending aresponse message to the server, if the user equipment is located withinthe target geographical location and possesses the requested content,the response message including information indicating that the userequipment possesses the content requested by the server.

With the methods and apparatuses of the invention, a machine typecommunication based communication system is provided with an effectivesolution of accessing for a location information-based service tothereby greatly improve the capability of the machine type communicationbased communication system to apply the service for geographicallocation information-based machine type communication, and the methodsand apparatuses of the invention can be applied to various machine typecommunication based communication systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will become moreapparent from the following detailed description of non-limitingembodiments with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an application scenario of a machine typecommunication based communication system 100 according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of accessing for a geographicallocation information-based service in a server of a machine typecommunication based communication system according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of accessing for a geographicallocation information-based service in a user equipment of a machine typecommunication based communication system according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of accessing for a geographicallocation information-based service in a machine type communication basedcommunication system according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first accessing apparatus500 for a geographical location information-based service in a server ofa machine type communication based communication system according to anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a second accessing apparatus600 for a geographical location information-based service in a userequipment of a machine type communication based communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

Identical or similar reference numerals denote identical or similar stepfeatures or devices (modules).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the invention will be illustratively detailed belowwith reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an application scenario of a machine typecommunication based communication system 100 according to an embodimentof the invention. In the application scenario illustrated in FIG. 1, themachine type communication based communication system 100 comprises aserver 110 and a plurality of user equipments 121, 122, 123, 124, 125and 126. In an embodiment, one or more other network devices, e.g., abase station or a switch (not illustrated in FIG. 1 for the sake ofconciseness), responsible for forwarding the data and the signalingbetween the server 110 and the plurality of user equipments, can befurther included between the server 110 and the plurality of userequipments.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method of accessing for a geographicallocation information-based service in a server of a machine typecommunication based communication system according to an embodiment ofthe invention, and the flow illustrated in FIG. 2 will be describedbelow in detail with reference to FIG. 1.

Firstly in the step S201, the server 110 broadcasts or multicasts acontent request message comprising information on requested content andinformation on a target geographical location.

It shall be noted that the target geographical location can be one ormore geographical location points or one or more geographical areas; andthe corresponding information on the target geographical location can beGPS coordinate values of the one or more geographical location points orGPS coordinate values of the one or more geographical areas. The contentrequested by the server 110 can be various content, e.g., a segment ofvideo, a segment of audio, measured values of parameters, status values,etc.

Taking the application scenario illustrated in FIG. 1 as an examplewithout loss of generality, the content request message broadcasted bythe server 110 comprises a request for content of a specific video in auser equipment located in a geographical area 131.

In an embodiment, each user equipment firstly determines whether it islocated within the target geographical location described in the contentrequest message upon reception of the request message. The userequipments determine whether they are located within the targetgeographical location according to information on geographical locationswhere they are located. If the user equipments are mobile terminals,then they can determine whether they are located within the targetgeographical location according to GPS coordinates measured by their ownGPS modules. If the user equipments are fixed user equipments, thentheir geographical location information can he pre-stored.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the user equipments 122, 125 and 126 are notin the geographical area 131, so the user equipments 122, 125 and 126will not perform any process upon reception of the content requestmessage. The user equipments 121, 123 and 124 are located in thegeographical area 131, so the user equipments 121, 123 and 124 furtherdetermine whether they possess the content of the video requested by theserver 110.

Without loss of generality, the user equipments 121 and 123 possess thecontent of the video requested by the server 110, and then both of theuser equipments 121 and 123 send a response message to the server 110.The response message sent by the user equipment 121 includes informationindicating that the user equipment 121 possesses the content requestedby the server 110, and the response message sent by the user equipment123 includes information indicating that the user equipment 123possesses the content requested by the server 110.

Referring back to FIG. 2, in the step S202, the server 110 receives aresponse message from at least one user equipment, the response messageindicating that the at least one user equipment possesses the contentrequested by the server 110, and the at least one user equipment beinglocated within the target geographical location.

Finally in the step S203, the server 110 acquires the requested contentfrom the at least one user equipment. Specifically how to transmit thecontent requested by the server 110 between the at least user equipmentand the server 110 is determined by the specific network structure andthe protocol that is applied. In an embodiment, in the case that theuser equipment is a mobile terminal, the user equipment establishes aconnection with the server and thus transmits the content to the server110. In another embodiment, there is no need to establish a connectionbetween the server 110 and the user equipment, and the server 110 sendsa request message directly to the user equipment, and then the userequipment transmits the content requested by the server 110 to theserver 11 0.

Optionally, as described previously, in the step S202, if the server 110receives response messages from the user equipments 121 and 123, thenthe server 110 can further select one of the user equipments 121 and 123according to a predetermined rule to acquire the requested content ofthe video.

It shall be noted that the predetermined rule can vary with thevariation of the practical machine type communication basedcommunication systems. For example, one of the user equipments can beselected according to a quality of a radio link when the user equipmentsaccess the machine type communication based communication system in awireless manner. One of the user equipments can be selected according toa bandwidth of a wired link when the user equipments access the machinetype communication based communication system in a wired way. In afurther example, in an application scenario of scheduling taxies, theuser equipments are taxies, and the predetermined rule can be a taxiwithin the target geographical location closest to a tenant.

It shall be further noted that in some application scenarios, the server110 doesn't need to select any user equipment but acquire the requestedcontent from each user equipment from which it receives a responsemessage. For example, in an application scenario of remote meterreading, the user equipments are ammeters, and the server 110 willacquire a reading of each ammeter in a specific geographical area.

In some situations, during the transmission of the content requested bythe server 110 to the server 110, one or more selected user equipmentsresponsible for the transmission may have moved out of the targetgeographical location, and then the server 110 will receive anotification message from the one or more user equipments, thenotification message notifying the server 110 that the selected at leastone user equipment has moved out of the target geographical location.

In an embodiment, in the case that the server 110 establishes aconnection with the at least one user equipment, e.g., the userequipment 121, to acquire the content requested by the server 110, theserver 110 releases the connection with the user equipment 121 uponreception of the notification message from the user equipment 121.

Next the server 110 repeats the steps S201 to 5203 illustrated in FIG. 2to acquire the requested content from another user equipment within thetarget geographical location.

An order of the step of releasing the connection and the repeated stepsof S201 to S203 may be slightly different according to differentproperties of the content requested by the server 110.

In an embodiment, in the case that the transmission of the contentrequested by the server 110 can not be interrupted, the server 110firstly repeats the steps S201 to S203 and then releases the connectionwith the user equipment 121 upon reception of the notification message.In the case that the transmission of the content may be interrupted, theserver 110 can firstly perform the step of releasing the connection tothereby firstly release the connection with the user equipment 121 andthen repeat the steps S201 to S203. Of course, alternatively in thiscase, it can firstly repeat the steps S201 to S203 and then release theconnection with the user equipment 121.

Optionally before the step S201 illustrated in FIG. 2, the server 110can further receive the content request message from a network device,the content request message comprising the information on the targetgeographical location and the information on the requested content. Theserver 110 further performs the steps S201 to S203 after receiving thecontent request message. Then it sends the content acquired in the stepS203 to the network device. It shall be noted that the network devicecan be any device capable of communicating with the server 110, e.g., auser equipment or another server.

It shall be noted that if the server 110 does not receive any responsemessage after performing the step S201 as illustrated in FIG. 2 once,then it can expand the range of the target geographical location andperform the flow as illustrated in FIG. 2 again.

The flow of the method of accessing for a geographical locationinformation-based service has been described above from the perspectiveof the server 110.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of accessing for a geographicallocation information-based service in a user equipment of a machine typecommunication based communication system according to an embodiment ofthe invention, and the flow illustrated in FIG. 3 will be describedbelow in detail in connection with FIG. 1 taking the user equipment 121as an example.

Firstly in the step S301, the user equipment 121 receives a contentrequest message from the server 110, the content request messagecomprising information on requested content and information on a targetgeographical location.

Next in the step S302, the user equipment 121 determines whether it islocated within the target geographical location and determines whetherit possesses the content requested by the server 110.

Finally in the step S303, if the user equipment 121 is located withinthe target geographical location, e.g., the geographical area 131illustrated in FIG. 1, and possesses the content requested by the server110, then it sends a response message to the server 110, the responsemessage comprising information indicating that the user equipment 121possesses the content requested by the server 110. In an embodiment, theresponse message further comprises information indicating GPScoordinates of the geographical location where the user equipment 121 islocated. In this case, the user equipment 121 is provided therein with aGPS module configured to acquire the GPS coordinates of the geographicallocation where the user equipment 121 is located.

If the server 110 selects the user equipment 121 to acquire therequested content, then the user equipment 121 transmits the contentrequested by the server 110 to the server 110. Specifically how totransmit the content requested by the server 110 between the userequipment 121 and the server 110 is determined by the specific networkstructure and the protocol that is applied. In an embodiment, in thecase that the user equipment 121 is a mobile terminal, the userequipment 121 establishes a connection with the server 110 and thustransmits the content to the server 110.

In the case that the user equipment 121 is a mobile terminal, it mayhave moved out of the target geographical location before thetransmission of the content requested by the server 110 is completed,and then the user equipment 121 sends a notification message to theserver 110 to notify the server 110 that the user equipment 121 hasmoved out of the target geographical location. The user equipment 121can determine whether it is going to moved out of the targetgeographical location by comparing the GPS coordinate values measured byits GPS module with the target geographical location.

The user equipment 121 can send the notification message at differenttime points according to different properties of the content requestedby the server 110. In an embodiment, in the case that the transmissionof the content can not be interrupted, the user equipment 121 needs tosend the notification message before moving out of the targetgeographical location so that the server 110 can acquire the content ina timely way from another user equipment within the target geographicallocation. In an embodiment, in the case that the transmission of thecontent may be interrupted, the user equipment 121 can send thenotification message when or after moving out of the target geographicallocation. Of course, alternatively in this case, the user equipment 121can send the notification message before moving out of the targetgeographical location.

The flow of the method of accessing for a geographical locationinformation-based service in a user equipment of a machine typecommunication based communication system has been described above fromthe perspective of the user equipment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of accessing for ageographical location information-based service in a machine typecommunication based communication system according to an embodiment ofthe invention, and the flow illustrated in FIG. 4 will be describedbelow in detail in connection with FIG. 1.

Firstly in the step S401, the server 110 broadcasts or multicasts acontent request message comprising information on requested content andinformation on a target geographical location. Without loss ofgenerality, the information on the target geographical location in thecontent request message is the geographical area 132 illustrated in FIG.1, and the requested content are content of a video of an environmentwithin the target geographical location in a certain time period.

Next in the step S402, the user equipment 125 determines whether it islocated within the target geographical location and determines whetherit possesses the content requested by the server 110 upon the receptionof the content request message. If the user equipment 125 is a mobileterminal, then it determines whether it is located within the targetgeographical location according to GPS coordinate values measured by itsGPS module; and if the user equipment 125 is a fixed device, then it canacquire its geographical location information in advance, e.g., GPSvalues of a geographical location where it is located.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, since the user equipment 125 is located withinthe target geographical location, i.e., in the geographical area 132,and the user equipment is provided with a camera module to take andstore a video of its surroundings in real time. Thus in the step S403,the user equipment 125 sends a response message to the server 110, theresponse message comprising information indicating that the userequipment 125 possesses the content requested by the server 110.

Next in the step S404, the server 110 acquires the requested contentfrom the user equipment 125.

Optionally while the server 110 is acquiring a video of thesurroundings, if the user equipment 125 is moving out of thegeographical area 132, then in the step S405, the user equipment 125sends a notification message to the server 110 to notify the server 110that the user equipment 125 is moving out of the target geographicallocation.

The server 110 repeats the steps S401 to S404 upon reception of thenotification message to acquire the requested video of the surroundings.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first accessing apparatus500 for a geographical location information-based service in a server ofa machine type communication based communication system according to anembodiment of the invention. In FIG. 5, the first accessing apparatus500 comprises a broadcasting or multicasting device 501, a firstreceiving device 502 and an acquiring device 503.

An operation process of the first accessing apparatus 500 located in theserver 110 will be described below in detail in connection with FIG. 1.

Firstly the broadcasting or multicasting device 501 broadcasts ormulticasts a content request message comprising information on requestedcontent and information on a target geographical location.

It shall be noted that the target geographical location can be one ormore geographical location points or one or more geographical areas; andthe corresponding information on the target geographical location can beGPS coordinate values of the one or more geographical location points orGPS coordinate values of the one or more geographical areas. The contentrequested by the server 110 can be various kinds of content, e.g., asegment of video, a segment of audio, measured values of parameters,status values, etc.

Taking the application scenario illustrated in FIG. 1 as an examplewithout loss of generality, the content request message broadcasted bythe broadcasting or multicasting device 501 comprises a request forcontent of a specific video in a user equipment located in thegeographical area 131.

In an embodiment, each user equipments firstly determines whether it islocated within the target geographical location described in the contentrequest message upon reception of the request message. The userequipments determine whether they are located within the targetgeographical location according to information on geographical locationswhere they are located. If the user equipments are mobile terminals,then they can determine whether they are located within the targetgeographical location according to GPS coordinates measured by their ownGPS modules. If the user equipments are fixed user equipments, thentheir geographical location information can he pre-stored.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the user equipments 122, 125 and 126 are notin the geographical area 131, so the user equipments 122, 125 and 126will not perform any process upon reception of the content requestmessage. The user equipments 121, 123 and 124 are located in thegeographical area 131, so the user equipments 121, 123 and 124 furtherdetermine whether they possess the content of the video requested by theserver 110.

Without loss of generality, the user equipments 121 and 123 possess thecontent of the video requested by the server 110, and then both of theuser equipments 121 and 123 send a response message to the server 110.The response message sent by the user equipment 121 includes informationindicating that the user equipment 121 possesses the content requestedby the server 110, and the response message sent by the user equipment123 includes information indicating that the user equipment 123possesses the content requested by the server 110.

The first receiving device 502 receives a response message from at leastone user equipment, the response message indicating that the at leastone user equipment possesses the content requested by the server 110,and the at least one user equipment being located within the targetgeographical location.

Finally the acquiring device 503 acquires the requested content from theat least one user equipment. Specifically how to transmit the contentrequested by the server 110 between the at least user equipment and theserver 110 is determined by the specific network structure and theprotocol that is applied. In an embodiment, in the case that the userequipment is a mobile terminal, the user equipment establishes aconnection with the acquiring device 503 and thus transmits the contentto the server 110.

Optionally, as described previously, the first receiving device 502receives response messages from the user equipments 121 and 123, andthen the acquiring device 503 can further select one of the userequipments 121 and 123 according to a predetermined rule to acquire therequested content of the video.

It shall be noted that the predetermined rule can vary with thevariation of the practical machine type communication basedcommunication systems. For example, one of the user equipments can beselected according to a quality of a radio link when the user equipmentsaccess the machine type communication based communication system in awireless manner. One of the user equipments can be selected according toa bandwidth of a wired link when the user equipments access the machinetype communication based communication system in a wired way. In afurther example, in an application scenario of scheduling taxies, theuser equipments are taxies, and the predetermined rule can be a taxiwithin the target geographical location closest to a tenant.

It shall be further noted that in some application scenarios, theacquiring device 503 doesn't need to select any user equipment butacquire the requested content from each user equipment from which thefirst receiving device 502 receives a response message. For example, inan application scenario of remote meter reading, the user equipments areammeters, and the server 110 will acquire a reading of each ammeter in aspecific geographical area.

In some situations, during the transmission of the content requested bythe server 110 to the server 110, one or more selected user equipmentsresponsible for the transmission may have moved out of the targetgeographical location, and then the first receiving device 502 willreceive a notification message from the one or more user equipments, thenotification message notifying the server 110 that the selected at leastone user equipment has moved out of the target geographical location. Inthis case, the first accessing apparatus 500 further a controllingdevice (not illustrated in FIG. 5)

In an embodiment, in the case that the acquiring device 503 establishesa connection with the at least one user equipment, e.g., the userequipment 121, to acquire the content requested by the server 110, theacquiring device 503 releases the connection with the user equipment 121after the first receiving device 502 receives the notification messagefrom the user equipment 121.

Next the controlling device controls the broadcasting or multicastingdevice 501, the first receiving device 502 and the acquiring device 503to repeat the foregoing step of broadcasting or multicasting, step ofreceiving the response message and step of acquiring the contentrespectively to acquire the requested content from another userequipment within the target geographical location.

An order of the step of the acquiring device 503 releasing theconnection and the broadcasting or multicasting device 501, the firstreceiving device 502 and the acquiring device 503 repeating theforegoing step of broadcasting or multicasting, step of receiving theresponse message and step of acquiring the content respectively may beslightly different according to different properties of the contentrequested by the server 110.

In an embodiment, in the case that the transmission of the contentrequested by the server 110 can not be interrupted, after the firstreceiving device 502 receives the notification message, the controllingdevice firstly controls the broadcasting or multicasting device 501, thefirst receiving device 502 and the acquiring device 503 to repeat theforegoing step of broadcasting or multicasting, step of receiving theresponse message and step of acquiring the content respectively and thencontrols the acquiring device 503 to release the connection with theuser equipment 121. In the case that the transmission of the content maybe interrupted, the controlling device controls the acquiring device 503to firstly perform the step of releasing the connection to therebyfirstly release the connection with the user equipment 121, and then thecontrolling device controls the broadcasting or multicasting device 501,the first receiving device 502 and the acquiring device 503 to repeatthe foregoing step of broadcasting or multicasting, step of receivingthe response message and step of acquiring the content respectively. Ofcourse, alternatively in this case, the controlling device can firstlycontrol the broadcasting or multicasting device 501, the first receivingdevice 502 and the acquiring device 503 to repeat the foregoing step ofbroadcasting or multicasting, step of receiving the response message andstep of acquiring the content respectively and then control theacquiring device 503 to release the connection with the user equipment121.

Optionally before the broadcasting or multicasting device 501 performsbroadcasting or multicasting, the first receiving device 502 can furtherreceive the content request message from a network device, the contentrequest message comprising the information on the target geographicallocation and the information on the requested content. At last theacquiring device 503 sends the acquired content to the network device.It shall be noted that the network device can be any device capable ofcommunicating with the server 110, e.g., a user equipment or anotherserver.

It shall be noted that if the first receiving device 502 does notreceive any response message after the broadcasting or multicastingdevice 501 broadcasts or multicasts the content request message, thenthe controlling device can expand the range of the target geographicallocation and then control the broadcasting or multicasting device 501 tobroadcast or multicast the content request message again.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a second accessing apparatus600 for a geographical location information-based service in a userequipment of a machine type communication based communication systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 6, the secondapparatus 600 comprises a second receiving device 601, a determiningdevice 602 and a sending device 603.

An operation process of the second accessing apparatus 600 located inthe user equipment 121 will be described below in detail in connectionwith FIG. 1.

Firstly the second receiving device 601 receives a content requestmessage from the server 110, the content request message comprisinginformation on requested content and information on a targetgeographical location.

Next the determining device 602 determines whether the user equipment islocated within the target geographical location and determines whetherthe user equipment possesses the content requested by the server 110.

Finally if the user equipment 121 is located within the targetgeographical location, e.g., the geographical area 131 illustrated inFIG. 1, and possesses the content requested by the server 110, then thesending device 603 sends a response message to the server 110, theresponse message comprising information indicating that the userequipment 121 possesses the content requested by the server 110. In anembodiment, the response message further comprises informationindicating GPS coordinates of the geographical location where the userequipment 121 is located. In this case, the user equipment 121 isprovided therein with a GPS module configured to acquire the GPScoordinates of the geographical location where the user equipment 121 islocated.

If the server 110 selects the user equipment 121 to acquire therequested content, then optionally the user equipment 121 furthercomprises therein a transmitting device (not illustrated in FIG. 6)configured to transmit the content requested by the server 110 to theserver 110. Specifically how to transmit the content requested by theserver 110 between the transmitting device and the server 110 isdetermined by the specific network structure and the protocol that isapplied. In an embodiment, in the case that the user equipment 121 is amobile terminal, the transmitting device establishes a connection withthe server 110 and thus transmits the content to the server 110.

In the case that the user equipment 121 is a mobile terminal, it mayhave moved out of the target geographical location before thetransmission of the content requested by the server 110 is completed,and then the sending device 603 sends a notification message to theserver 110 to notify the server 110 that the user equipment 121 hasmoved out of the target geographical location. The user equipment 121can determine whether it is going to move out of the target geographicallocation by comparing the GPS coordinate values measured by its GPSmodule with the target geographical location.

The sending device 603 can send the notification message at differenttime points according to different properties of the content requestedby the server 110. In an embodiment, in the case that the transmissionof the content can not be interrupted, the sending device 603 needs tosend the notification message before the user equipment 121 moves out ofthe target geographical location so that the server 110 can acquire thecontent in a timely way from another user equipment within the targetgeographical location. In an embodiment, in the case that thetransmission of the content may be interrupted, the sending device 603can send the notification message when the user equipment 121 is movingout of or after the user equipment 121 has moved out of the targetgeographical location. Of course, alternatively in this case, the userequipment 121 can send the notification message before moving out of thetarget geographical location.

It shall be noted that the operation processes of the server and theuser equipment of the machine type communication based communicationsystem have been detailed above from the functional perspective, andthose ordinarily skilled in the art shall appreciate that the form of aphysical carrier of the server will not be limited, for example, theserver can be a base station or a wireless network controller or acomputer; and the form of a physical carrier of the user equipment willnot be limited either, for example, it can be a mobile phone, a personalcomputer, an on-vehicle device, a medical device, a camera on a road,etc.

It shall be noted that the foregoing embodiments are merely exemplarybut not to limit the invention, and any technical solutions withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention shall fall into the scope ofthe invention. Furthermore, any reference numerals in the claims shallnot be construed as limiting the claims to which they relate; the term“comprising” shall not preclude other device(s) or step(s) which is(are)not listed in the claims or the description; “a” or “an” preceding adevice shall not preclude presence of a plurality of such devices; in anapparatus including a plurality of devices, one or more functions of theplurality of devices can be performed by the same hardware or softwaremodule; and the terms “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., are merelyintended to represent a name but not to indicate any specific order.

1. A method of accessing for a geographical location information-basedservice in a server of a machine type communication based communicationsystem, the method comprising: (A) broadcasting or multicasting acontent request message, the content request message comprisinginformation on requested content and information indicating a targetgeographical location; (B) receiving a response message from at leastone user equipment, the response message indicating that the at leastone user equipment possesses the requested content, and the at least oneuser equipment being located within the target geographical location;and (C) acquiring the requested content from the at least one userequipment; wherein acquiring the requested content comprises: acquiringthe requested content by establishing a connection with the at least oneuser equipment; and wherein after (C), the method further comprises:releasing the connection with the at least one user equipment.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein before acquiring requested content,the method further comprises: selecting at least one user equipment fromthe at least one user equipment based upon a predetermined rule; andwherein acquiring and requesting content further comprises: acquiringthe requested content from the selected at least one user equipment. 3.The method according to claim 1, wherein after acquiring the requestedcontent, the method further comprises: receiving a notification messagefrom the selected at least one user equipment, the notification messagenotifying the server that the selected at least one user equipment hasmoved out of the target geographical location; and repeating the stopsA, B and C.
 4. (canceled)
 5. The method according to claim 1, whereinbefore broadcasting or multicasting the content request message, themethod further comprises: receiving the content request message from anetwork device, the content request message comprising the informationon the target geographical location and the information on the requestedcontent; and wherein after C, the method further comprises: sending theacquired content to the network device.
 6. A method of accessing for ageographical location information-based service in a user equipment of amachine type communication based communication system, the methodcomprising: (I) receiving a content request message from a server, thecontent request message comprising information on requested content andis information indicating a target geographical location; (II)determining whether the user equipment is located within the targetgeographical location and determining whether the user equipmentpossesses the requested content; and (III) sending a response message tothe server, if the user equipment is located within the targetgeographical location and possesses the requested content, the responsemessage comprising information indicating that the user equipmentpossesses the content requested by the server; (IV) transmitting therequested content to the server once a connection between the userequipment and the server is established.
 7. The method according toclaim 6, wherein the response message further comprises informationindicating GPS coordinates of the geographical location where the userequipment is located.
 8. (canceled)
 9. The method according to claim 6,wherein transmitting the content comprises: transmitting the requestedcontent to the server by establishing a connection with the server. 10.The method according to claim 6, further comprising: sending anotification message to the server, if the user equipment has moved outof the target geographical location before the transmission of therequested content is completed, the notification message notifying theserver that the user equipment has moved out of the target geographicallocation.
 11. A first accessing apparatus for a geographical locationinformation-based service in a server of a machine type communicationbased communication system, the apparatus comprising: a broadcasting ormulticasting device, for broadcasting or multicasting a content requestmessage, the content request message comprising information on requestedcontent and information indicating a target geographical location; afirst receiving device, for receiving a response message from at leastone user equipment, the response message indicating that the at leastone user equipment possesses the requested content, and the at least oneuser equipment being located within the target geographical location;and an acquiring device, for establishing a connection with the userequipment acquiring the requested content from the at least one userequipment using said connection.
 12. The first accessing apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein the first receiving device is furtherconfigured for: receiving a notification message from the selected atleast one user equipment, the notification message notifying the serverthat the selected at least one user equipment has moved out of thetarget geographical location; and wherein the first accessing apparatusfurther comprises: a control device, for controlling the broadcasting ormulticasting device, the receiving device and the acquiring device torepeat the foregoing processes after the receiving device receives thenotification message.
 13. A second accessing apparatus for ageographical location information-based service in a user equipment of amachine type communication based communication system, the apparatuscomprising: a second receiving device, for receiving a content requestmessage from a server, the content request message comprisinginformation on requested content and information indicating a targetgeographical location; a determining device, for determining whether theuser equipment is located within the target geographical location anddetermining whether the user equipment possesses the requested content;a sending device, for sending a response message to the server, if theuser equipment is located within the target geographical location andpossesses the requested content, the response message comprisinginformation indicating that the user equipment possesses the contentrequested by the server; and a transmitting device, for transmitting therequested content to the server once a connection between the userequipment and the server is established.
 14. (canceled)
 15. The secondaccessing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the sending device isfurther configured for: sending a notification message to the server, ifthe user equipment has moved out of the target geographical locationbefore the transmission of the requested content is completed, thenotification message notifying the server that the user equipment hasmoved out of the target geographical location.